HEAVY BUR­DEN

Ro­man Green­berg [see page 32] isn’t the only heavy­weight con­tender to fall short of high ex­pec­ta­tions

1. IKE IBEABUCHI

Known as ‘The Pres­i­dent’, Ibeabuchi ap­peared to rep­re­sent the fu­ture of the di­vi­sion dur­ing the late nineties, as he went toe-to-toe with David Tua and knocked out Chris Byrd. A lengthy prison sen­tence, how­ever, meant the Nigerian’s pro ca­reer was cut short.

2. ODLANIER SO­LIS

So­lis was a three-time world cham­pion as an am­a­teur and the 2004 Olympic gold medal­list. Yet, as a pro, he flat­tered to de­ceive, was knocked out in a round by Vi­tali Kl­itschko, twice beaten by Tony Thomp­son, and never came close to the same kind of suc­cess.

3. MICHAEL BEN­NETT

Ben­nett won the World Am­a­teur Cham­pi­onships in 1999 and was the US team cap­tain at the 2000 Olympics. He turned pro in 2001 as a small heavy­weight and was knocked out four times in 14 fights. He re­tired in 2003.

4. AUD­LEY HAR­RI­SON

Har­ri­son, the 2000 Olympic gold medal­list at su­per­heavy­weight, was con­sid­ered Bri­tain’s heir ap­par­ent to Len­nox Lewis. He won the EBU ti­tle and fought for the WBA ti­tle, but promised so much more.

5. DUANE BOBICK

Bobick’s out­stand­ing am­a­teur ca­reer in­cluded wins over Teó­filo Steven­son at the 1971 Pan Amer­i­can Games and Larry Holmes en route to a spot on the 1972 US Olympic team. He won 38 con­sec­u­tive fights as a pro be­fore Ken Nor­ton knocked him out in­side a minute.

6. DAVID IZON

Nigerian Izon scooped the heavy­weight sil­ver medal at the 1992 Olympics, turned pro the fol­low­ing year, won plenty of fights in France, and was then out­hus­tled by tal­ented jour­ney­man Mau­rice Har­ris over eight rounds.

7. DE­NIS BOYTSOV

A dec­o­rated am­a­teur with a record of 115-15, Boytsov won 33 fights pro fights in a row, was com­pared to Mike Tyson, but then lost to Alex Lea­pai in 2013.

8. DO­MINIC GUINN

Dubbed Amer­ica’s next great heavy­weight hope dur­ing a 24-fight un­beaten run, Guinn even­tu­ally came un­stuck against Monte Bar­rett in 2004.

9. DAVID DEFIAGBON

Defiagbon won gold for Nige­ria as a wel­ter at the 1990 Com­mon­wealth Games and then won sil­ver for Canada as a heavy­weight at the 1996 Olympics. As a pro, he won 21 fights and then lost a de­ci­sion to Oleg Maskaev.

10 DAVID RO­DRIGUEZ

Though softly matched, Ro­driguez romped to 36-0 as a pro, with 35 knock­outs to his name, be­fore a knife at­tack cur­tailed his progress. After that, he was up­set first by Dar­nell Wil­son and then by Ray­mond Ochieng.